Italian red-light cameras rigged with shorter yellow lights

It's no secret that red light cameras are often used to generate more ticket …

As if red-light and speed cameras weren't already controversial enough, a recent discovery in Italy is sure to send all drivers over to the Hatorade stand. A programmer and 108 other individuals are being investigated for rigging a "smart" traffic light system to purposefully trap drivers and fine them for violations, with some speculating that up to a million Italian drivers have been unfairly slapped with fines.

A 45-year-old engineering graduate from Genoa named Stefano Arrighetti is responsible for programming the T-Redspeed system that has been implemented throughout Italy. T-Redspeed uses three cameras as part of the traffic light system, which is meant to determine the exact 3D placement of vehicles going through the intersection in addition to storing their licence plate information. When drivers are caught running a red light, performing an illegal left turn, or any number of other violations, they are automatically fined �150 for each incident.

It turns out, however, that Arrighetti and a handful of public officials were allegedly a bit greedier than most. He's accused of conspiring with 63 municipal police, 39 local government officials, and the managers of seven different companies in order to rig the system so that it would turn from yellow to red quicker, therefore catching more motorists. The scheme was uncovered by Lerici police chief Roberto Franzini, who noticed that the number of violations were too high for a period of months and, after some investigation, found that the lights were changing way sooner than usual. "There were 1,439 for the previous two months," Franzini told The Independent (via TechDirt). "It seemed too much: at the most our patrols catch 15 per day."

According to the police report seen by The Independent, some 300 municipalities across Italy and a number of companies shared the revenues made by the rigged camera system since it was implemented in 2007. Arrighetti has since been put under house arrest while the case is being investigated, though Arrighetti's lawyer insisted to the newspaper that he was innocent and that there was no need for the T-Redspeed system to be checked. "Arrighetti is a genius whom the whole world envies," Arrighetti's attorney Rosario Minniti said.

Red light cameras have been under increased scrutiny by citizens and the media, and apparently for good reason. A local newspaper recently discovered in Denver that the city had not been collecting the required accuracy data from the contractor who implemented its red light cameras, but that didn't stop Denver from sending out $75 tickets to over 14,000 drivers. And, of course, yellow-light shorting is a trend that seems to be making its way around the world quickly as municipalities discover that while it may not exactly improve safety, it can definitely improve ticket revenues.

46 Reader Comments

As far as accuracy, it's not uncommon for me to be setting at the light and the strobe across the intersection will go off, yet there is no one going through the intersection. I have found at one intersection that I come to I can almost always get the camera to go off on my side just by rolling a tad past the white line. It's a joke at some intersections, the yellows are so short there is no choice but to keep going or risk getting rear ended by stopping short.

From earlier: "the Denver police's own data shows that it's not the cameras that are improving safety, but rather lengthening yellow light times. The city agreed last summer to experiment with lengthening yellow lights by one or two seconds at a handful of locations and found that violations went down significantly—the daily average dropped to 9, 10, and 16 violations at the different lights, down from 125 violations between the three when the yellow lights were the legal minimum of 3 seconds."

I hate red light cameras, since there is so many instances that they go so far in the wrong direction. At the same time, at 5pm yesterday, I was in the lane to go left, then the light turned green, and it was green for about 1 second a loser in a Nissan Altima decided to turn left anyhow almost causing an collision. What made my day was the fact that a Sheriff was right behind him to pull him or her over.

Getting caught by the cop doing it is much more expensive than a camera doing it. The downside to those cameras, is that so few people do it, and once they are there, it's like, well, who will pay for the 100k system?

Originally posted by Deranged:Normally, those who complain the most about traffic controlling measures such as this are those who perform the worst when driving and/or overestimates their driving abilities.

Citation needed. Or is this just another one of those "Those who don't want to lower the burden of proof are usually them selves drug-dealers/rapists/pedophiles/criminals"?

true article, I found some evidence near home, it was so scandalous, that they fixed it immediately: the yellow was, something like half-second!Who knows what money they made?!I suppose he's just an asshole, he probably given its ass to the politicians, because IMHO, they are the ones responsible for this stuff and the ones to deserve a lesson, not the stupid slaves doing their (dirty) jobs.An italian.

Originally posted by Deranged:Normally, those who complain the most about traffic controlling measures such as this are those who perform the worst when driving and/or overestimates their driving abilities.

Citation needed. Or is this just another one of those "Those who don't want to lower the burden of proof are usually them selves drug-dealers/rapists/pedophiles/criminals"?

It's anecdotal of course but those I know or have met that complain about speed cameras and such drives like car thiefs and say things "hey, this road is limited to 50 km/h but I can control this car at a 100 km/ so therefor I have the moral right to drive as fast as I feel is okay".

Your analogy is also a bit flawed in that the proof is very much right there, on the photo.

Deranged - Normally, those who complain the most about traffic controlling measures such as this are those who perform the worst when driving and/or overestimates their driving abilities.

Well, at least your tag is right. Sorry, but most of the red-light and speed cameras are only an un-voted tax on those least able to fight it. If it's seriously about safety, increase the yellow light by a few seconds and delay the crossing green after it goes to red. If you continue to have folks blindly run the light, position a cop there on a regular basis to nail the folks who think they're special. they are, just not in the way they THINK they are.

As for the numpty in Italy...throw the book at him and his cronies and make them pay back all the money PLUS damages. that should (at least temporarily) cure them of the itch to pick other folks pockets.

Funny, we never hear about the situation elsewhere in Europe - Germany, for example - where this system has been in use for years if not decades. Perhaps the readership is so low we do not get to hear what it's like overthere or the system works so well no one has anything to report.

Originally posted by Deranged:Normally, those who complain the most about traffic controlling measures such as this are those who perform the worst when driving and/or overestimates their driving abilities.

Originally posted by Deranged:[...] Your analogy is also a bit flawed in that the proof is very much right there, on the photo.

Uh . . . did you read the article?(de kortade perioden som det var gult, så att det skulle vara fler som "körde mot rött") They allegedly tried to turn people into criminals in order to make money. It wasn't about catching people who intentionally ran a red light.

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Originally posted by earl grey:[...] Sorry, but most of the red-light and speed cameras are only an un-voted tax on those least able to fight it. If it's seriously about safety, increase the yellow light by a few seconds and delay the crossing green after it goes to red.

Sad thing is most people who don't drive/park on a regular basis think that fines are there to increase trafic safety and/or prevent chaos.

It's anecdotal of course but those I know or have met that complain about speed cameras and such drives like car thiefs and say things "hey, this road is limited to 50 km/h but I can control this car at a 100 km/ so therefor I have the moral right to drive as fast as I feel is okay".

Your analogy is also a bit flawed in that the proof is very much right there, on the photo.

Er, the red-light camera 'proof' says nothing at all about one's ability to drive well. It only demonstrates that one was in the intersection when the light was red. You made the additional, unsupported, claim that those who complain about traffic controls are bad drivers.

Your claim wants supporting in two ways:1. evidence that those who complain are, in fact, more prone to bad driving2. evidence that those who complain are those who get caught by red light cameras.

fwiw, I complain about red light cameras and have never been issued a citation for any sort of moving violation. Parking tickets I've gotten, but nothing else. So put up some evidence or admit that you were blowing off steam, and overstated your case. It's not really that big a deal.

Originally posted by Deranged:Normally, those who complain the most about traffic controlling measures such as this are those who perform the worst when driving and/or overestimates their driving abilities.

Wrong.

NEWFLASH people! Red light cameras increase accidents. This happens in the US too. Alot of times the contracts for these red lights require a shortened yellow light time. In almost every city where these things are installed they INCREASE accidents. Do you support cameras in your home to make sure you are not violating any laws?

This needs to start happening in the US. Every time an accident occurs in an intersection, the length of the yellow light should be reviewed; if it is shorter than the law allows, those in charge should be prosecuted.

I find I am a little ambivalent on this issue. I think shortening the yellow interval is a bad idea, but I'm all for the cameras.

At various jobs over there years I have made the habit of walking to lunch. Most of that time that means crossing a busy highway at a traffic light.

At one particular light I and my cow orkers had the habit of waiting several seconds (sometimes as long as 1/2 the red interval) before we would cross when we had the light because of the number of red light runners. It was almost one a week.

More recently, at a different intersection I need to cross every day if I walk to lunch I have almost been hit twice in the past year by people running the red. One guy actually slowed down at the red, saw me in the road, and drove around me, proceeding through the red light at near the regular speed limit.

In my jurisdiction fire trucks are required to stop at red lights and then proceed through the intersection even when they are responding with lights and siren. They don't always usually do it, but they do tend to slow down dramatically.

After a period, some years back, where they killed more people on the way to fires than they rescued, they instituted a policy to actually slow down at green lights too, because of the problems with red light running and people making left turns in front of responding vehicles.

Yeah, that'd happen. Speaking as a pedestrian, the number of people hammering on at yellow lights "before they change" and straight-up crashing red lights is absolutely shocking- a mother waiting at the lights with a toddler? Well that's too bad, gotta make that meeting, eh?

IIRC looking up a while back what was most likely to kill me (white male under 40 living in a developed country) can you guess what it was? It wasn't terrorists, I'll tell you that.

Originally posted by Teej:If the period of the yellow light is so short that people driving at speed can not stop within a safe distance given the variables on the road, then the yellow light period is too short, period.

Then don't drive at speed around traffic lights. In some countries in Europe (IIRC in Holland) running a yellow light is considered the same as running a red light. Yellow means stop.

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There are idiots out there, but why lasso us with those idiots?

Because you're all idiots. You think the 5 thousand odd idiots killed those pedestrians in 1997 were especially stupid? They were just normal car drivers. Just like you.

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Yes, and it has been discovered that in a vast majority of those deaths, pedestrians either chose to ignore traffic rules, OR the intersection was not designed for pedestrian traffic.

Oh, right, they deserve to die then!

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Red light cameras DO NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.

Anything that makes drivers slow down in urban areas helps this problem. If they can't rely on yellow lights then maybe they'll slow down on green enough to stop safely, if that prevents some poor guy out for a walk being killed in the long run after the fining sinks in, it'll be worth it.

Originally posted by Teej:Yes, and it has been discovered that in a vast majority of those deaths, pedestrians either chose to ignore traffic rules, OR the intersection was not designed for pedestrian traffic.

Do a search for "Top 10 worst intersections".

Red light cameras DO NOT SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.

Let me see if I understand this argument: Since some pedestrians are at fault in some accidents, the deaths of all pedestrians are justified. At the same time, since some drivers may be fined for running red lights that they didn't run, no automated enforcement of traffic laws can be justified.

BTW the reference in the lead article to inaccurate red-light cameras is apparently only about inaccurate speed-trap cameras. The same reference was used in the previous Ars article.

If the period of the yellow light is so short that people driving at speed can not stop within a safe distance given the variables on the road, then the yellow light period is too short, period.

Do people not take Driver's Ed anymore? You are not supposed to drive through intersections at speed. You are supposed to place your foot on the brake, begin slowing prior to the intersection so that you can come to a completye stop prior to the intersection if the light goes yellow and then accelerate once you are in the intersection. That's one of the basic rules to driving. And around where I live if you go through a yellow light and were not already in the intersection when it turned yellow you will be pulled over and ticketed.

I seriously think alot of our problems with drivers and accidents would actually go down if they had to retake Driver's Ed and if they actually put it to use. Just like very few people follow the 2 second rule of driving. Learn to drive properly and safely and amazingly it doesn't matter how short the yellow is (within reason) you won't have problems.

Also other rules that people are supposed to follow but don't and piss me off because it makes things rougher for everyone, you are not supposed to cross an intersection unless you can go all the way through, or are claiming the intersection for a left hand turn and can go through when the light changes. Nor are you supposed to block entrances and exits onto the street when at a stop. Unfortunatly no one anymore knows the basic rules and etiquette of driving, as apparent from some of these posts.

Don't people get a ticket for the light turning red when you haven't made it across the intersection in other countries?IOW, drivers have to be sure that they either are moving fast enough, or have enough "yellow time" to make it across...

And what do we do?We shorten the yellow time, even more!?!

Yeah, I'm sure all cars will stop, at the light. Wait for it to turn yellow. Then red. Then yellow again. And then when it turns green again, they can drive across. Fully aware that they now have the maximum amount of time available to make it across.

Stop trying to make traffic light more of a problem than they need to be.Please.

Originally posted by Mltdwn:Do people not take Driver's Ed anymore? You are not supposed to drive through intersections at speed. You are supposed to place your foot on the brake, begin slowing prior to the intersection so that you can come to a completye stop prior to the intersection if the light goes yellow and then accelerate once you are in the intersection.

Holy cow. That may be assumed best practices, but you try that in any metro area with heavy traffic, and you'll be dead before you get to the intersection. These sorts of things, while nice in theory, wreak havoc when dealing with high traffic flow intersections. Have you ever driven in Chicago? New York? Boston? Rome and Paris are much much worse.

And I can certainly say that when I took driver's ed 16+ years ago, we weren't instructed to brake before entering any intersection unless there was a yellow light (whether solid or flashing), or a yield sign. The assumption on a green light/unsigned intersection is that you may continue unimpeded as you have the right of way.